Van Dijk helped Liverpool lift their 6th Champions League title and also he won the PFA’s Player of the Year award this season and secured a second place finish in the Premier League. PHOTO: AFP
Van Dijk said ‘the time has come’ has come for a defender to win the Golden Ball after he helped Liverpool lift their sixth Champions League title and also he won the PFA’s Player of the Year award this season and secured a second-place finish in the Premier League, Reports Goal.
The Reds defender prefers club honours rather than individual awards but admits that he feels pleased that he is being considered for individual awards as well.
“To get the PFA Player of the Year is a fantastic honour,” Van Dijk told Liverpool’s official website, “it’s the highest honour you can get because it’s voted by your fellow peers.
“I said it back then as well, I would trade it for the Champions League. Luckily, I didn’t have to.
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“It’s an honour if people are talking about [the Ballon d’Or], but what can I do? I have no influence on anything.
“I can’t deny I had a pretty good season last year, so the only thing I can do now is to just focus on the new season, getting fit, stay fit and hopefully get an even better season than I had last year.
“I can understand the fact that normally strikers or No. 10s win these awards because it’s more attractive to see. But maybe the time has come to change it.”
Liverpool's Van Dijk wins PFA player of year award
The last defender to win the Ballon d’Or was Fabio Cannavaro in 2006 and after that, the award was dominated by both Messi and Ronaldo for a decade
Looking forward to next season, Liverpool’s captain said that the team would target everything there is to win and take its place as Europe’s top clubs.
The Anfield club was beaten to the Premier League title by one point by Manchester City but Van Dijk believes that Liverpool has that motivation and drive to win the title next season.
“As a team, we’re going to try to compete in every competition and obviously it’s going to be hard because there are so many and the league is so tough as well,” the 28-year-old continued, “but the only thing we can do is try.
“We will give everything we’ve got and we have the quality as well. We’ll see where that leads us."
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